I broke a handbrake during a test drive.... I pay?

verbal

verbal

verbal

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No I wasn't doing handbrake turns.. heh

I went with my girlfriend to visit a friend of her's and after talking it came out that this friend was selling her car, a 1.4 Polo. I am considering getting a new car soon and a Polo is one of the types of car i am considering so i asked if i could go for a test drive in it in case I ended up being interested in buying it off her.

After having a bit of a drive in it (and deciding I didn't like it much) I pulled up outside her house and pulled up the handbrake in the way i do in my pug 106 (habit i guess). The handle came up way too far and it turns out that i snapped the handbrake cable. The friend of my girlfriend phoned up and asked my gf to ask me to pay for it.

I am almost certainly going to agree to pay but my way of thinking is that the handbrake must have been defective if i can break it just by pulling it up. I am not even a really strong bloke. I also think that the first person who would have come along to test drive this car would probably have done that same thing and not knowing the owner would not have had to pay.

She says its going to cost around £35-40 to fix. This seems a bit steep to me but i'm not really sure...

Just wondered what people thought about this situation...
 

Siliconslave

Siliconslave

Siliconslave

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i'd offer to pay half on it atleast - if it was a random testdrive i wouldn't pay in the slightest, but as its a mate (or gf's mate) letting you take it out cause you might be interested its a different situation imho.
 

amx

amx

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for the sake of your girlfriends friendship i would stump up the £40, could cause friction otherwise.
 

lordrobs

lordrobs

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Celestial Caravan said:
This is a key piece of safety equipment that obviously wasn't up to the job. Ask her to imagine the mayhem she would have caused the next time she parked on a hill. She should be thanking you.
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Come on, we're talking womans logic here. He broke it, there is no "it would have broken at some point anyway" its just "he broke it".

If it were my car I'd have just seen it as one of those things. Women always seem to be much tighter than men in these situations. Maybe they quantify everything in potential shoes and handbags :confused:

:p
 

Nazbit

Nazbit

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If I were you I would pay. Yes it was going to go sometime, yes it was unlucky that it went when you were driving.

But at the end of the day, for the sake of £35 - £40, just pay and prevent any arguments between you, your girlfriend and this friend.

Keep em happy ;)
 

Maz

Maz

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PeteLucky7 said:
Wouldn't this be covered by her insurance?
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Nope.

Same as if my handbrake cable snapped it wouldn't be covered by insurance.

But probably would under warranty.

Car insurance is there to for accidental damage to the vehicle., not mechanical breakdown.
 
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